


four women erik stevens never killed

by poalimal



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Warnings in Note
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 01:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14249667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: ...and one he almost did.





	four women erik stevens never killed

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Wartime Crimes, Implied Rape/Non-Con, Trauma, Islamophobia, Past Child Abuse, Police Brutality, Sexual Harassment, Anti-Black Racism, Lynching, Major Character Death, Implicit Cissexism

 

  

1\. RUTH

Mary wouldn't wake up early even if the house fell down on top of her. Ruth stood no chance. So she had to listen to the screams from the in-between space behind her wall when the Americans dragged her sister out from her bed.

Really it was the silence that stayed with her. The burn of the fire came down on her far before the flames outside were ever lit. And still she waited for someone to come wake her. Ruth never really prayed, really she just mouthed along, it was _Mary_ who always prayed - but Mary was dead now, and so Ruth didn't start.

Finally the voices of men fell away from beneath Mary's silence. And Ruth climbed out from behind the wall and walked out through the flame, tracking blood and urine down the hall. She noticed the heat but could not feel it. It felt like nothing could touch her now. She wondered she did not wake up as fire herself. Past the kitchen she burned, where their uncle now lay silent. The broken frames and photographs were her tinder: she stopped at no face and no thing until she was out beneath the stars, doused in the cool air of an otherwise normal night.

Alone.

And that was when she saw him. The man with the covered face. In the smoke at first he looked like a demon; then the wind blew and she saw he was just wearing a gas mask. To protect himself, she thought; maybe even while he took care of any survivors. His fatigues, she saw, were open to the waist. His chest was uncovered, brown like hers, and scarred like a crocodile's.

She knew he had seen her by the set of his shoulders, the grip he held on his gun. They stood there and watched each other, there in front of the remains of her home: like something out of a dream.

That was when the roof caved in. The wall of flame cracked, Ruth awoke - and then she ran.

 

  
2\. GERALDINE

The old LeBaron rumbled up the long driveway round 3:13 like it had never left. 'Well,' Geraldine harrumphed, putting the dough to the side, 'I'll be damned. If that girl ain't got some nerve!'

Now take it easy, Gerry, said Thomas. 'Member, you only got one moment to smile. You got your whole life to be mean. And he tapped his dimples on either side.

'I been smiling a real long time, Thomas. This girl has it coming,' said Geraldine, puffing her chest up as she headed for the front of the house. She made herself remember, for the first time in years, the very last time she'd seen her daughter; the sound Hudsy had made when she'd tossed him down the stairs; the way Lisa had said she was a _hypocrite_ ; how God couldn't be real if all he did was look the other way when it really mattered; how even if he were real, she wouldn't believe in him _anyway_.

'If God is _anything_ like you,' she'd said, face purpling from where Geraldine struck her, 'then I don't need him!'

Geraldine flung open the little white front door and stretched out her mouth to bellow and cuss -

and then she saw Lisa, her baby girl, standing in front of her daddy's old car, hunched all over like a little alley dog: waiting to get kicked.

'Oh, if you don't get in here, girl,' said Geraldine bitterly, mouth reaching up to catch her tears.

Lisa fell face-first into Geraldine's neck, crying. 'I'm sorry, Momma, I'm sorry.'

'You stop that crying right now, you hear? You're gonna make your momma cry,' said Geraldine, rocking her back and forth. 'And you know I'm ugly when I cry.' Behind the screendoor, from the safety of the house, Thomas sighed. 'Alright now, baby. Hush now. It's alright, sh-sh-sh. It's ok.'

Lisa pushed back, face naked with fear. Proud Lisa! What had her running so scared? 'No, you don't--' she shook her head. 'You don't understand.'

And that was when the baby in the backseat woke up and started to cry.

 

* * *

 

'Now Momma, don't you go feeding him none of them greens,' Lisa said, greatly recovered after a shower and nap some hours later. 'I told you, we're vegetarian now.' Aw hell - first the dreads, now this whole diet thing. California done gone and drove her daughter crazy.

'Now look here, Miss Thing: I'm making up for lost meals!' said Geraldine, bouncing Erik gently up on her knee when he started to wriggle around. He was a fussy little thing. Well, Nessy's grandkids were growing out of all their things, she probably had an old highseat she could spare. In the meantime: 'I will feed my grandson whatever I want!'

Lisa set her mouth hard. Geraldine meekly added: 'Anyway... collard greens are _green_. Wh, what's not plant-based about that? Huh?'

Probably all that hamhock, hon, Thomas said thoughtfully. He was peeking in from the corner of the kitchen, trying not to stare too hard at Erik. Well, kids could usually tell about him. It meant the house had been awful lonely these past few years.

'Probably all that pork,' Lisa said. Thomas poked his head out of the larder and smiled at her.

'Yea, that's _your_ daughter, all right,' Geraldine said, unthinking.

Then she looked up and saw Lisa staring at her in shock. And she remembered: for everybody else, it had been years.

Erik reached into the pause, his hand all gummed up from his last mashed potato grab, and pointed straight at Thomas.

'Ba!' he said loudly. 'Ba!'

Thomas came a little closer, the years melting from his face till he was just a young man. Aw, hell. Geraldine swallowed hard and looked away.

Hello there, said her husband. I don't mean to scare you. I'm your granddaddy. Your momma ever tell you about me?

'Ba-baa,' Erik said, petulant. Then he started to whuffle.  
  
Lisa was every inch the underslept mother: she paid her son no mind. 'You still taking your meds, Momma?' she asked quietly.

Geraldine smiled. Then she turned Lisa's own words from a few hours earlier back on her, when she'd asked after the father: 'You know I love you - but that's none of your damn business.'

'Alright, ok,' Lisa said peaceably, shrugging. 'Just asking.' She got up and started clearing her side of the table. It gave Geraldine a special little thrill to see she'd put out the good yellow placemats without even asking. She was on good behaviour all evening, it seemed. Didn't even have to ask her to do the dishes.

She must be in real bad way, Geraldine figured.

'Your momma gave up a lot to come back to me,' she murmured into the crown of Erik's head, while her daughter stared down at the sink. Erik stopped sniffling and peered up at her. And Geraldine came from a long line of talking women, often as Thomas teased her: she knew babies heard all the careless words you said. But she got the sense somehow that Erik was trying his best to _listen_ right then. 'Let's try and make it easy on her, ok, baby?'

And alright - so maybe all babies really knew was fooling. And maybe Erik was just tired after that long drive. But he leaned his head back against her heartbeat, blinked up at her soft and slow - and then he shut his eyes and went to sleep. 

 

 

3\. HODAN

The minute she stepped through the door, the bartender had his eye on her. Reflexively, she reached up to straighten her hijab. Nervous habit. Stupid habit. As if he was worried about how _neat_ she looked.

Erik, meanwhile, didn't stand up or greet her or wave her down. He just finished off his drink when he saw her, then finished off one more while she sat on the creaky stool next to him. He eyed her sidelong and narrow while she waited for him to speak, as if she were a stranger getting too close.

Which wouldn't be too far from the truth, really. It wasn't like she ever knew what the hell went through Erik Stevens's head. Trifling ass nigga.

'Well,' said Hodan, giving in and looking around. The bar was somehow even dingier than it looked on the outside. 'This doesn't seem like your usual watering hole.' Or maybe it was. There was a Blue Lives Matter flag right over the bar, after all; in case she had any kind of question about the owner's politics.

Erik did not reply, just raised his fingers for another drink, casually flashing his undoubtedly very expensive watch. But the bartender remained on the other end of the bar with his arms crossed, staring at Hodan hard. Message received.

Erik had the gall to look at her in annoyance, as if she had personally inconvenienced him by meeting him at a location of his choice at his own request.

'You know, you're going pretty heavy for a Sunday afternoon,' she said pointedly, losing her patience. 'Shouldn't you at least wait until Harris decides the case this week before you celebrate?' His vibe was all wrong though; he didn't seem to be in much of a celebratory mood at all.

'Nah, Harris is our guy,' Erik said, matter-of-fact, rolling down his sleeves, 'we're gonna win.'

Hodan's heart began to pound. 'When you say Judge Harris is your guy...' she said slowly.

Erik rolled his eyes. 'I know you're not so naive as all that,' he said, slurring slightly. 'You know what it means. You don't have the jury support you think you do. They're tired of watching that dashboard cam, they're tired of being yelled at. They don't care that Calvin wasn't dealing, or that he went to church. Plus, they like Brunetti. They believe he was scared. And Harris's brother is union, so. We're gonna win.' And he sighed, tipping his second drink back and crunching the ice into his mouth. 'And that means... Brunetti walks.'

Nice work, she thought, half-admiring the way he walked his initial comment back. 'Why are you telling me this?' she asked, watching him set down his glass hard. It wasn't like it was some unthinkable outcome; in fact, she'd say she knew the score far better than he did.

But then Erik's face came alive with wrath.

'Because that nigga did that shit,' he hissed. 'He _planned_ it. Copped a feel one too many times and didn't want to deal with the formal complaint.' He ticked off his fingers one-by-one. 'Wilful. Deliberate. Premeditated.'

Wallahi. Everytime she thought she reached the bottom of the barrel with this guy. 'These are very serious accusations you're making,' she said. 'You know you shouldn't be sharing them with me, and you know I'm not in a position to do anything with them besides get you disbarred. So I'll ask again - why are you telling me this?'

Erik laughed. 'Man! Cold as ice,' he said, shaking his head. 'BLS teach you that shit?'

'Oh, what'd they teach you out West?' she asked sarcastically. 'How to sell your people out to the highest bidder?'

It was, she privately admitted, something she'd wanted to say to him for a very long time.

But Erik barely even shrugged. 'Everybody's got a price,' he said. 'You still clerkin' at the DA's even after all this shit, so they certainly know yours. Huh?'

Oh, so now systematic injustice was _her_ fault? Fuck this nigga. 'Look, what did you ask me here for?' she said. 'I have somewhere I need to be.' Wasting her time with his little moral crisis.

'Everyone in that courtroom knows Brunetti did that shit,' said Erik. Loud enough that the bartender started moving slowly towards them. All right. It was time for her to leave. 'But you the only other person there that thinks he's guilty.'

Huh. Guess Calvin's widow didn't register to him.

Hodan stood to her feet and leaned in close. 'Difference between you and me?' she hissed. 'I'm actually trying to _do_ something about it.'

Erik's shoulders slumped. He shook his head and laughed. 'Let me know how the master's tools work out for you,' he called, grinning. Man, fuck _him_. She shot him a glare over her shoulder as she slammed out of the bar, and was pissed off the rest of the day.

Trial was postponed that week. The lead attorney for the defence was found dead in an alleyway. 'Suicide', they called it.

 

 

4\. KAROLAY

Karolay had always known she should give up weed, but she like, really, truly knew it? When she stepped outside on her federally-mandated 30-minute break and got a gun pointed in her face. In broooad daylight. Like, damn. Can a bitch live? Can a bitch _live_.

'Gimme all your money!' hissed the man in the Halloween mask. 'Now, bitch!'

'Oh- _kay_ , damn,' she muttered, calmly opening her wallet. Wait. This was Risa's wallet. She was sposed to just be borrowing her lighter. Uhhh. Well, maybe Risa wouldn't notice a few bills missing. 'Do you have change for a 20?'

'Bitch, just give me your purse!' the man said, looking back over his shoulder frantically. 'Now! Shit.'  
  
'I mean, like,' said Karolay, 'oh- _kay_. You ain have to call me a bitch, though. Like, I think I'm being pretty accommodating. Like, I'm not screaming or nu-thing.'

'Shut the fuck up,' said the man, roughly tearing Risa's purse and wallet away. Karolay fell back against the employee side-entrance with a thump. ' _Ma'am_.'

Karolay started to laugh so hard she thought she might be sick. _Ma'am_. That was pretty funny.

'Get away from her,' said a voice, further up the alley. Oh, was there another one? That was, like. Not great. She only had the one 20. Well. Risa only had the one 20. Shit. Did she say that out loud?

'Did I say that out loud?' she said. There was a blur of movement, and then the man in the horror movie mask was on the ground getting his ass handed to him by some dude in a full-on body supersuit.

Wayment... she'd _seen_ that dick outline before. That was, um. um. what's his face. what's his name. umm. shit. um--

'The Jaguar!' she remembered, clapping once and pointing. 'Boy you bout fine as fuck.'

The Jaguar paused in punching the shit out of the man in the mask. 'Blease, blease,' the man whimpered, blood all over his face, 'I godda fambly--' Ha! Dique, _I got a family_. Ok, and? Like, Karolay ain have no family?

The Jaguar knocked him the fuck out, then stepped over his body to give Karolay back Risa's purse.

'I wasn't aware my civilian identity was public domain,' he said. His voice was all distorted and deep.

'Iss just the way you walk,' Karolay said, giggling a bit. Her sister was gonna _dieee_. 'Plus, you like. Just confirmed it.'

'I'll have to be more careful then,' said The Jaguar, voice all raspy and shit as he stepped closer. Damn, was this really bout to happen? Were they really bout to--

'Yo, is your arm sposed to be like,' she said, 'doing that shit?' His shoulder was pulsing, all purple and glowy and weird. His face-helmet rippled and he stepped back mad quick, shoulders all tense.

'Don't worry about it,' he said stiffly. 'And _don't_ call the police.' And then he pressed something on his bracelet and disappeared.

Obviously she called 911. She couldn't just like, leave some man's body there! She was paying it forward. Like, being a good Samaritan.

And after all that shit, Quizno's _still_ fired her! Like, what the fuck?

 

 

+1. LINDA

Klaue she tossed hard back against the wing of the plane, swiping his gun with her left hand and knifing from throat to stomach with her right before he even landed. And Erik? Erik was fast - but she'd always been faster. She shot at his hands, sent his gun flying, then took out both his shoulders for good measure. He went down with a groan.

She came around the side of the plane very slowly, very carefully. For once she needn't have worried. He was bleeding out fast. Grinding his face into the dirt, trying to push himself up and reach for his gun. His eyes rolled up wildly when he saw her boots.

'I'mh,' he grunted, 'sorry. I'm sorry, Linda.' She was sorry, too.

'It'll be ok,' she said, raising her gun. 'Next time - don't freeze.'

 

 


End file.
